View source for MS-DOS

{{About|Microsoft DOS|other operating systems of the DOS family|DOS}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2012}}
{{Infobox OS
|name=MS-DOS
|screenshot=[[File:StartingMsdos.png]]
|caption=An example of MS-DOS's command-line interface, this one showing that the current directory is the root of drive C.
|developer=[[Microsoft]]
|source_model=[[Closed source]]; [[source-available]] for select versions since 2014<ref name="Paterson_2014_MSDOS125"/><ref name="Shustek_2014_MS-DOS"/><ref name="Levin_2014_MS-DOS"/>
|kernel_type=[[Monolithic kernel|Monolithic]]
|succeeded_by=[[Microsoft Windows]]
|supported_platforms=[[x86]]
|ui=[[Command-line interface|Command-line]], [[text user interface|text]]
|family=[[DOS]]
|released={{start date and age|1981|8}}<ref name=Linfo>{{cite web|title=MS-DOS: A Brief Introduction|url=https://www.linfo.org/ms-dos.html|work=The Linux Information Project|accessdate=24 December 2012}}</ref>
|discontinued=yes
|latest_release_version=8.0
|latest_release_date={{release date and age|2000|09|15}}
|latest_test_version=
|latest_test_date=
|marketing_target=
|programmed_in=8086 [[Assembly language|assembly]]<ref>{{cite web|title=An Inside Look at MS-DOS |url=https://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Byte/InsideDos.htm|first=Tim|last=Paterson |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010204043900/https://patersontech.com/Dos/Byte/InsideDos.htm |archivedate={{date|2001-02-04}}|authorlink=Tim Paterson|work=Seattle Computer Products|location=Seattle}}</ref><!-- https://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=197874 -->
|updatemodel=None
|package_manager=None
|working_state=Discontinued
|license=[[Proprietary software|Proprietary]]
|website=[https://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/windows_dos_overview.mspx MS-DOS overview]
|support_status=Unsupported, since 31 December 2001<ref>{{cite web|title=Obsolete Products Life-Cycle Policy| url=https://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeobsoleteproducts |publisher=Microsoft |date=July 30, 2009 |accessdate=6 April 2010}}</ref>
}}
'''MS-DOS''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɛ|m|ɛ|s|ˈ|d|ɒ|s}} {{respell|EM|es|DOSS|'}}; acronym for '''''M'''icro'''s'''oft '''D'''isk '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem'') is an [[operating system]] for [[x86]]-based [[personal computers]] mostly developed by [[Microsoft]]. It was the most commonly used member of the [[DOS]] family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for [[IBM PC compatible]] personal computers during the 1980s to the mid-1990s, when it was gradually superseded by operating systems offering a [[graphical user interface]] (GUI), in various generations of the graphical [[Microsoft Windows]] operating system by Microsoft Corporation.

MS-DOS resulted from a request in 1981 by IBM for an operating system to use in its [[IBM PC]] range of personal computers.<ref name="A history of Windows">{{cite web|title=A history of Windows|url=https://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/history|website=Microsoft|accessdate=6 May 2015}}</ref><ref name="digitalresearch.biz">{{cite web|title=Digital Research - History of MS-DOS|url=https://www.digitalresearch.biz/HISZMSD.HTM|website=Digital Research|accessdate=6 May 2015}}</ref> Microsoft quickly bought the rights to [[86-DOS]] from [[Seattle Computer Products]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Byte/History.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801102940/https://patersontech.com/Dos/Byte/History.html |archivedate=2013-08-01|title=A Short History of MS-DOS}}</ref> and began work on modifying it to meet IBM's specification. IBM licensed and released it in August 1981 as [[PC&nbsp;DOS]] 1.0 for use in their PCs. Although MS-DOS and PC&nbsp;DOS were initially developed in parallel by Microsoft and IBM, in subsequent years the two products diverged and became different from each other, with recognizable differences in compatibility, syntax, and capabilities.

During its life, [[Comparison of DOS operating systems|several competing products]] were released for the x86 platform,<ref name="roy">{{cite book|title=A history of the personal computer: the people and the technology| first=Roy A.|last=Allan|chapter=Microsoft in the 1980s, part III 1980s — The IBM/Macintosh era| page=[https://www.retrocomputing.net/info/allan/eBook12.pdf 14]|isbn=0-9689108-0-7|url= https://www.retrocomputing.net/info/allan/|accessdate=December 5, 2009|year=2001|publisher=Allan Pub.|location=[[London, Ontario]]}}</ref> and MS-DOS went through eight versions, until development ceased in 2000.<ref name="Historical Essays">{{cite web | title=A Compilation of 8 Historical Essays | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyto0YS-bpYC&pg=PT18&dq=support+for+dos+discontinued+in+2001&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjo2N71qtHKAhV*****j4KHeN4A0kQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=support%20for%20dos%20discontinued%20in%202001&f=false |accessdate=30 January 2016 |publisher=Google Books}}</ref> Initially MS-DOS was targeted at [[Intel 8086]] processors running on computer hardware using [[floppy disks]] to store and access not only the operating system, but application software and user data as well. Progressive version releases delivered support for other mass storage media in ever greater sizes and formats, along with added feature support for newer processors and rapidly evolving computer architectures. Ultimately it was the key product in Microsoft's growth from a [[programming language]]s company to a diverse software development firm, providing the company with essential revenue and marketing resources. It was also the underlying basic operating system on which early versions of Windows ran as a GUI. It is a flexible operating system, and consumes negligible installation space.

==History==
{{further|DOS|Timeline of DOS operating systems}}
MS-DOS was a renamed form of [[86-DOS]]<ref name="PATERSON">{{cite web |title=Father of DOS Still Having Fun at Microsoft |first=Doug |last=Conner |publisher=[[Micronews]] |url=https://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Micronews/paterson04_10_98.htm |accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>&nbsp;– owned by [[Seattle Computer Products]], written by [[Tim Paterson]].  Development of 86-DOS took only six weeks, as it was basically a clone of [[Digital Research]]'s [[*****/M]] (for 8080/Z80 processors), ported to run on [[8086]] processors and with two notable differences compared to *****/M; an improved disk sector buffering logic and the introduction of [[FAT12]] instead of the *****/M filesystem. This first version was shipped in August 1980.<ref name="Linfo" />  Microsoft, which needed an operating system for the [[IBM Personal Computer]]<ref name="A history of Windows"/><ref name="digitalresearch.biz"/> hired Tim Paterson in May 1981 and bought 86-DOS 1.10 for $75,000 in July of the same year. Microsoft kept the version number, but renamed it MS-DOS.<!-- The first internal version after the name change was therefore MS-DOS 1.10, not MS-DOS 1.0 --> They also licensed MS-DOS 1.10/1.14<!-- sources differ if PC DOS 1.0 was based on either MS-DOS 1.10 or 1.14 --> to IBM, who, in August 1981, offered it as [[PC&nbsp;DOS]] 1.0 as one of three operating systems<ref>{{cite web |title=Personal Computer Announced by IBM  |url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/documents/pdf/p*****ress.pdf |accessdate=September 27, 2014}}</ref> for the [[IBM 5150]], or the [[IBM PC]].<ref name="Linfo" />

Within a year Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to over 70 other companies.<ref name="freiberger19820823">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA19&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q&f=true | title=Bill Gates, Microsoft and the IBM Personal Computer | work=InfoWorld | date=1982-08-23 | accessdate=29 January 2015 | author=Freiberger, Paul | pages=22}}</ref> It was designed to be an OS that could run on any 8086-family computer. Each computer would have its own distinct hardware and its own version of MS-DOS, similar to the situation that existed for [[*****/M]], and with MS-DOS emulating the [[*****/M#Basic Input Output System|same solution]] as *****/M to adapt for different hardware platforms. To this end, MS-DOS was designed with a modular structure with internal device drivers, minimally for primary disk drives and the console, integrated with the kernel and loaded by the boot loader, and installable device drivers for other devices loaded and integrated at boot time. The [[OEM]] would use a development kit provided by Microsoft to build a version of MS-DOS with their basic I/O drivers and a standard Microsoft kernel, which they would typically supply on disk to end users along with the hardware. Thus, there were many different versions of "MS-DOS" for different hardware, and there is a major distinction between an IBM-compatible (or ISA) machine and an MS-DOS [compatible] machine.  Some machines, like the [[Tandy 2000]], were MS-DOS compatible but not IBM-compatible, so they could run software written exclusively for MS-DOS without dependence on the peripheral hardware of the IBM PC architecture.

This design would have worked well for compatibility, if application programs had only used MS-DOS services to perform device I/O, and indeed the same design philosophy is embodied in Windows NT (see [[Hardware Abstraction Layer]]). However, in MS-DOS's early days, the greater speed attainable by programs through direct control of hardware was of particular importance, especially for games, which often pushed the limits of their contemporary hardware. Very soon an IBM-compatible architecture became the goal, and before long all 8086-family computers [[Influence of the IBM PC on the personal computer market#Domination of the clones|closely emulated IBM's hardware]], and only a single version of MS-DOS for a fixed hardware platform was needed for the market. This version is the version of MS-DOS that is discussed here, as the dozens of other OEM versions of "MS-DOS" were only relevant to the systems they were designed for, and in any case were very similar in function and capability to some standard version for the IBM PC—often the same-numbered version, but not always, since some OEMs used their own proprietary version numbering schemes (e.g. labeling later releases of MS-DOS 1.x as 2.0 or vice versa)—with a few notable exceptions.

Microsoft omitted [[multi-user]] support from MS-DOS because Microsoft's [[Unix]]-based operating system, [[Xenix]], was fully multi-user.<ref name="swaine19820823">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA19&pg=PA24#v=onepage&q&f=true | title=MS-DOS: examining IBM PC's disk-operating system | work=InfoWorld | date= August 23, 1982 | accessdate=January 29, 2015 | author=Swaine, Michael | pages=24}}</ref> The company planned to over time improve MS-DOS so it would be almost indistinguishable from single-user Xenix, or ''XEDOS'', which would also run on the [[Motorola 68000]], [[Zilog Z8000]], and the [[LSI-11]]; they would be [[upward compatible|upwardly compatible]] with Xenix, which ''[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]]'' in 1983 described as "the multi-user MS-DOS of the future".<ref name="morgan198201">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-01/1982_01_BYTE_07-01_The_IBM_Personal_Computer#page/n7/mode/2up | title=Of IBM, Operating Systems, and Rosetta Stones | work=BYTE | date=January 1982 | accessdate=October 19, 2013 | author=Morgan, Chris | page=6}}</ref><ref name="fiedler198310">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-10/1983_10_BYTE_08-10_UNIX#page/n133/mode/2up | title=The Unix Tutorial / Part 3: Unix in the Microcomputer Marketplace | work=BYTE | date=October 1983 | accessdate=January 30, 2015 | author=Fiedler, Ryan | pages=132}}</ref> Microsoft advertised MS-DOS and Xenix together, listing the shared features of its "single-user OS" and "the multi-user, [[multi-tasking]], [[UNIX]]-derived operating system", and promising easy porting between them.<ref name="iw19830627">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yy8EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA44&ots=IdP7LXjGWK&dq=&pg=PA44#v=onepage&f=false | title=Before you bet your business software on an OS, look who's betting on MS-DOS and XENIX. | work=InfoWorld | date= June 27, 1983 | accessdate= January 31, 2015 | pages=44 | type=advertisement}}</ref> After the [[breakup of the Bell System]], however, [[AT&T Computer Systems]] started selling [[UNIX System V]]. Believing that it could not compete with AT&T in the Unix market, Microsoft abandoned Xenix, and in 1987 transferred ownership of Xenix to the [[Santa Cruz Operation]] (SCO).

On 25 March 2014, Microsoft made the code to [[S***** MS-DOS 1.25]] and a mixture of [[Altos MS-DOS 2.11]] and [[TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11]] available to the public under the [[Shared Source|Microsoft Research License Agreement]], which makes the code [[source-available]], but not [[open source]] as defined by [[Open Source Initiative]] or [[Free Software Foundation]] standards.<ref name="Paterson_2014_MSDOS125">{{cite web
|first1=Tim
|last1=Paterson
|authorlink1=Tim Paterson
|title=Microsoft DOS V1.1 and V2.0: /msdos/v11source/MSDOS.ASM
|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-research-license-agreement-msdos-v1-1-v2-0/
|publisher=[[Computer History Museum]], [[Microsoft]]
|date=2013-12-19<!-- 2014-03-25 -->
|origyear=1983<!-- 1983-05-17 -->
|accessdate=2014-03-25
}} (NB. While the publishers claim this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is [[S***** MS-DOS 1.25]] and a mixture of [[Altos MS-DOS 2.11]] and [[TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11]].)</ref><ref name="Shustek_2014_MS-DOS">{{Cite web
|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-ms-dos-early-source-code/
|title=Microsoft MS-DOS early source code
|series=Software Gems: The Computer History Museum Historical Source Code Series
|first=Len
|last=Shustek
|date=2014-03-24
|accessdate=2014-03-29}} (NB. While the author claims this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is [[S***** MS-DOS 1.25]] and a mixture of [[Altos MS-DOS 2.11]] and [[TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11]].)</ref><ref name="Levin_2014_MS-DOS">{{cite web
|url=https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/03/25/microsoft-makes-source-code-for-ms-dos-and-word-for-windows-available-to-public/
|title=Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public
|date=2014-03-25
|first=Roy
|last=Levin
|work=Official Microsoft Blog
|accessdate=2014-03-29}} (NB. While the author claims this would be MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0, it actually is [[S***** MS-DOS 1.25]] and a mixture of [[Altos MS-DOS 2.11]] and [[TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11]].)</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Phipps |first=Simon |title=Psych! Microsoft didn't really open-source MS-DOS |publisher=InfoWorld |date=2014-03-26 |url= https://www.infoworld.com/t/open-source-software/psych-microsoft-didnt-really-open-source-ms-dos-239111 |accessdate=2014-03-27}}</ref>

As an [[April Fools]] joke in 2015, [[Microsoft Mobile]] launched a [[Windows Phone]] application called ''MS-DOS Mobile'' which was presented as a new mobile operating system and worked similar to MS-DOS.<ref name="mobile">{{cite web|url=https://lumiaconversations.microsoft.com/2015/04/01/microsoft-launches-ms-dos-mobile/|title=Microsoft launches MS-DOS Mobile|date=2015-04-01|publisher=[[Microsoft Lumia]]|author=Luke Peters|quote=The MS-DOS Mobile preview is an essential download|accessdate=2015-04-02}}</ref>

<!-- This list of anchors for redirects to specific MS-DOS versions belong to the "Versions" chapter below. They have been moved out of the section header in order to keep the header length within reasonable limits in edit summaries. If,  this article has specific chapters to these versions, the anchors can be moved to the corresponding section headers. -->
{{anchor|1|1.10|1.11|1.12|1.13|1.14|1.20|1.21|1.22|1.23|1.24}}{{anchor|1.25|1.26|1.27|1.28|1.29|1.30|1.40|1.41|1.50|1.51}}{{anchor|1.52|1.53|1.54|2|2.00|2.01|2.10|2.11|2.11R|2.12|2.13}}
{{anchor|2.25|2.50|3|3.00|3.10|3.20|3.21|3.21R|3.22|3.25|3.30}}
{{anchor|3.30A|3.30R|3.31|4|4.01|5|5.00|6|6.00|6.20|6.21|6.22|7|7.00}}
{{anchor|7.10|8|8.00}}

=={{anchor|ADOS|HDOS}}Versions==
{{Main|Comparison of DOS operating systems|Timeline of DOS operating systems}}
Microsoft licensed or released versions of MS-DOS under different names like [[Lifeboat Associates]] "Software Bus 86"<ref name="Duncan_1988_MS-DOS_Encyclopedia">Ray Duncan (1988). ''The MS-DOS Encyclopedia – version 1.0 through 3.2''. Microsoft Press. ISBN 1-55615-049-0.</ref> aka [[SB-DOS]],<ref name="roy"/> [[COMPAQ-DOS]],<ref name="Duncan_1988_MS-DOS_Encyclopedia"/> [[NCR-DOS]] or [[Z-DOS]]<ref name="roy" /> before it eventually enforced the MS-DOS name for all versions but the IBM one, which was originally called "IBM Personal Computer DOS", later shortened to [[IBM PC&nbsp;DOS]]. (Competitors released compatible DOS systems such as [[DR&nbsp;DOS]] and [[PTS-DOS]] that could also run DOS applications.)

The following versions of MS-DOS were released to the public:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.emsps.com/oldtools/msdosv.htm |title=MS-DOS Versions Information |publisher=Emsps.com |date= |accessdate=2012-09-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=DAN |url=https://pcmuseum.tripod.com/dos.htm |title=DOS history |publisher=Pcmuseum.tripod.com |date= |accessdate=2012-09-27}}</ref>

*MS-DOS 1.x
**Version 1.10 (OEM)          – possible basis for IBM's Personal Computer DOS 1.0
**Version 1.11 (OEM)          – possible basis for IBM's Personal Computer DOS 1.0
<!-- **Versions 1.12 and 1.13 (Microsoft internal) -->
**Version 1.14 (OEM)          – possible basis for IBM's Personal Computer DOS 1.0
<!-- **Versions 1.20, 1.21, 1.22 and 1.23 (Microsoft internal) -->
**Version 1.24 (OEM)          – basis for IBM's Personal Computer DOS 1.1
**Version 1.25 (OEM)          – basis for non-IBM OEM versions of MS-DOS, including [[S***** MS-DOS 1.25]]
<!-- **Versions 1.26, 1.27, 1.28, 1.29, 1.30, 1.40, 1.41, 1.50, 1.51, 1.52, 1.53 and 1.54 (Microsoft internal) --><!-- or at least the corresponding OEM versions are not known -->
<!-- Note: The following OEM versions of MS-DOS had their own version numbering schemes different from MS-DOS, therefore they must be listed separately unless the corresponding MS-DOS version is known -->
::*Compaq-DOS 1.12, a Compaq OEM version of MS-DOS (1.25 or higher)
::*Zenith Z-DOS 1.19, a Zenith OEM version of MS-DOS (1.25 or higher)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ultrawindows.nl/tmp/msdos/119 |title=ultrawindows.nl |publisher=ultrawindows.nl |date= |accessdate=2012-09-27}}</ref>

*MS-DOS 2.x – Support for 10 MB hard disk drives and tree-structure filing system
**Version 2.0 (OEM), First version to support 5.25 inch, 320 kB floppy drives and diskettes.<ref name="Microsoft">{{cite web|url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/75131|title=Standard Floppy Disk Formats Supported by MS-DOS|accessdate=10 January 2016|publisher=Microsoft}}</ref>
**Version 2.1 (OEM)
**Version 2.11 (OEM)
***Altos MS-DOS 2.11, an Altos OEM version of MS-DOS 2.11 for the ACT-86C
***TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11<!-- yes, PC DOS, not MS-DOS -->, an TeleVideo OEM version of MS-DOS 2.11
*MS-DOS 3.x
**Version 3.0 (OEM) – Support for [[FAT16]]. First version to support 5.25 inch, 1.2 MB floppy drives and diskettes.
**Version 3.1 (OEM) – Support for Microsoft Networks
**Version 3.2 (OEM) - First version to support 3.5 inch, 720 kB floppy drives and diskettes.<ref name="Microsoft"/>
**Version 3.21 (OEM)
**Version 3.22 (OEM) - ([[HP 95LX]])
**Version 3.25 (OEM)
**Version 3.3 (OEM) - First version to support 3.5 inch, 1.44 MB floppy drives and diskettes.
**Version 3.3a (OEM)
**Version 3.31 (OEM)<ref>Confirmed that there was Compaq Personal Computer DOS 3.31 aside from MS-DOS 3.31 .</ref> – supports [[FAT16B]] and larger drives.<ref>Up to 512 MiB only.</ref>
*[[MS-DOS 4.0 (multitasking)]] and MS-DOS 4.1 - A separate branch of development with additional multitasking features, released between 3.2 and 3.3, and later abandoned. It is unrelated to any later versions, including versions 4.00 and 4.01 listed below
*MS-DOS 4.x (IBM-developed) – includes a graphical/mouse interface. It had many bugs and compatibility issues.<ref>{{cite web|first=Greg |last=Shultz |url=https://www.techrepublic.com/photos/dinosaur-sightings-installing-ms-dos-4/36455?mobileView=fullonce |title=Dinosaur Sightings: Installing MS-DOS 4 |work=TechRepublic |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |date=2006-11-06 |accessdate=2014-03-30}}</ref>
**Version 4.00 (OEM) - First version to support a single hard disk partition that is greater than 32 MiB and up to a maximum size of 2 GiB (SHARE.EXE was required to be loaded to access these partitions).<ref name="MS-DOS Partitioning Summary">{{cite web|title=MS-DOS Partitioning Summary|url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/69912|website=support.microsoft.com|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|accessdate=17 June 2015}}</ref>
**Version 4.01 (OEM) – Microsoft rewritten Version 4.00 released under MS-DOS label but not IBM PC-DOS. First version to introduce volume serial number when formatting hard disks and floppy disks (Disk duplication also<ref>Only if boot record of source floppy disk contains volume serial number also.</ref> and when using SYS to make a floppy disk or a partition of a hard drive bootable).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.faqs.org/faqs/assembly-language/x86/general/part3/ |title=DOS 4.0: About volume serial number |publisher=Faqs.org |date= |accessdate=2012-09-27}}</ref>
**Version 4.01a (OEM)
*MS-DOS 5.x
**Version 5.0 (Retail) – includes a full-screen editor.  A number of bugs required re issue. First version to support 3.5 inch, 2.88 MB floppy drives and diskettes. Hard disk partitions greater than 32 MiB and up to a maximum size of 2 GiB no longer required SHARE.EXE to be loaded in order to access them; support was now provided by the MS-DOS kernel.<ref name="MS-DOS Partitioning Summary"/> First version to load portions of the operating system into the [[high memory area]].
***AST Premium Exec DOS 5.0 (OEM) - a version for the [[AST Premium Exec]] series of notebooks with various extensions, including improved load-high and extended [[codepage]] support<ref name="RBIL">{{cite web |first=Ralf |last=Brown |url=https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ralf/files.html |title=The x86 Interrupt List |date=2002-12-29 |accessdate=2011-10-14}}</ref>
**Version 5.0a (Retail) – With this release, IBM and Microsoft versions diverge.
**Version 5.0.500 (WinNT) – All Windows NT 32-bit versions ship with files from DOS 5.0
*MS-DOS 6.x
**Version 6.0 (Retail) – Online help through QBASIC.  Disk compression, upper memory optimization and antivirus included.
**Version 6.2 – Scandisk as replacement for CHKDSK.  Fix serious bugs in DBLSPACE.
**Version 6.21 (Retail) – Stacker-infringing DBLSPACE removed.
**Version 6.22 (Retail) – New DRVSPACE compression.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc743186.aspx|title=MS-DOS 6 Technical Reference|publisher=[[Microsoft TechNet]]|accessdate=2014-02-13}}</ref>
*MS-DOS 7.x
**Version 7.0 ([[Windows 95]], Windows 95A) – Support for [[VFAT]] long file names and 32-bits signed integer errorlevel.  New editor.  JO.SYS is an alternative filename of the IO.SYS kernel file and used as such for "special purposes". JO.SYS allows booting from either CD-ROM drive or hard disk. Last version to recognize only the first 8.4 GB of a hard disk. The "ver" internal command prompt reports the windows version, 4.00.950.
**Version 7.1 (Windows 95B – [[Windows 98]] - [[Windows 98SE]])  – Support for [[FAT32]] file system.  Last general purpose DOS to load Windows. The "ver" internal command prompt reports the windows version, 4.00.1111, 4.10.1998 or 4.10.2222.
*MS-DOS 8.0
**Version 8.0 ([[Windows ME]]) – Integrated drivers for faster Windows loading.  Four different kernels (IO.SYS) observed.<ref>One for the floppy disk, one for a bootable partition of a hard disk, the other two are not known.</ref> The "ver" internal command prompt reports the windows version, 4.90.3000.
**Version 8.0 ([[Windows XP]]) – DOS boot disks created by XP and later contain files from Windows ME. The "ver" internal command prompt reports the windows version, 5.0.

Microsoft DOS was released through the OEM channel, until DRI released DR&nbsp;DOS 5.0 as a retail upgrade.  With PC&nbsp;DOS 5.00.1, the IBM-Microsoft agreement started to end, and IBM entered the retail DOS market with IBM&nbsp;DOS 5.00.1, 5.02, 6.00 and PC&nbsp;DOS 6.1, 6.3, 7, 2000 and 7.1.

Localized versions of MS-DOS existed for different markets.<ref name="country">{{cite web|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722862.aspx#XSLTsection136121120120|title=Country|work=MS-DOS 6 Technical Reference|at=ANSI.SYS|accessdate=2014-04-01|publisher=[[Microsoft TechNet|TechNet]]}}</ref> While Western issues of MS-DOS evolved around the same set of tools and drivers just with localized message languages and differing sets of supported codepages and keyboard layouts, some language versions were considerably different from Western issues and were adapted to run on localized PC hardware with additional BIOS services not available in Western PCs, support multiple hardware codepages for displays and printers, support DBCS, alternative input methods and graphics output. Affected issues include Japanese ([[DOS/V]]), Korean, Arabic (ADOS 3.3/5.0), Hebrew (HDOS 3.3/5.0), Russian ([[Russian MS-DOS 4.01|RDOS 4.01]]/[[Russian MS-DOS 5.0|5.0]]) as well as some other Eastern European versions of DOS.

==Competition==
{{refimprove section|date=April 2010}}
[[Image:Msdosad.jpg|left|thumb|300px|The original MS-DOS advertisement in 1981.]]

On microcomputers based on the Intel [[Intel 8086|8086]] and [[Intel 8088|8088]] processors, including the IBM PC and clones, the initial competition to the PC&nbsp;DOS/MS-DOS line came from [[Digital Research]], whose [[*****/M]] operating system had inspired MS-DOS. In fact, there remains controversy as to whether QDOS was more or less plagiarised from early versions of *****/M code. Digital Research released [[*****/M-86]] a few months after MS-DOS, and it was offered as an alternative to MS-DOS and Microsoft's licensing requirements, but at a higher price. [[Executable program]]s for *****/M-86 and MS-DOS were not interchangeable with each other; many [[applications software|applications]] were sold in both MS-DOS and *****/M-86 versions until MS-DOS became preponderant (later Digital Research operating systems could run both MS-DOS and *****/M-86 software). MS-DOS originally supported the simple [[COM file|.COM]], which was modelled after a similar but binary incompatible format known from [[*****/M-80]]. *****/M-86 instead supported a relocatable format using the [[file extension]] [[CMD file (*****/M)|.CMD]] to avoid name conflicts with *****/M-80 and MS-DOS .COM files. MS-DOS version 2.0 added a more advanced relocatable [[EXE|.EXE]] executable file format.

Most of the machines in the early days of MS-DOS had differing system architectures and there was a certain degree of incompatibility, and subsequently [[vendor lock-in]]. Users who began using MS-DOS with their machines were compelled to continue using the version customized for their hardware, or face trying to get all of their proprietary hardware and software to work with the new system.

In the business world the 808x-based machines that MS-DOS was tied to faced competition from the [[Unix]] operating system which ran on many different hardware architectures. Microsoft itself sold a version of Unix for the PC called [[Xenix]].

In the emerging world of home users, a variety of other computers based on various other processors were in serious competition with the IBM PC: the [[Apple II]], early [[Apple Macintosh]], the [[Commodore 64]] and others did not use the 808x processor; many 808x machines of different architectures used custom versions of MS-DOS. At first all these machines were in competition. In time the IBM PC hardware configuration became dominant in the 808x market as software written to communicate directly with the PC hardware without using standard operating system calls ran much faster, but on true PC-compatibles only. Non-PC-compatible 808x machines were too small a market to have fast software written for them alone, and the market remained open only for IBM PCs and machines that closely imitated their architecture, all running either a single version of MS-DOS compatible only with PCs, or the equivalent IBM PC&nbsp;DOS. Most clones cost much less than IBM-branded machines of similar performance, and became widely used by home users, while IBM PCs had a large share of the business computer market.

Microsoft and IBM together began what was intended as the follow-on to MS-DOS/PC&nbsp;DOS, called [[OS/2]]. When OS/2 was released in 1987, Microsoft began an advertising campaign announcing that "DOS is Dead" and stating that version 4 was the last full release. OS/2 was designed for efficient multi-tasking — an IBM speciality derived from deep experience with mainframe operating systems — and offered a number of advanced features that had been designed together with similar [[look and feel]]; it was seen as the legitimate heir to the "kludgy" DOS platform.

MS-DOS had grown in spurts, with many significant features being taken or duplicated from Microsoft's other products and operating systems. MS-DOS also grew by incorporating, by direct licensing or feature duplicating, the functionality of tools and utilities developed by independent companies, such as [[Norton Utilities]], [[PC Tools (Central Point Software)|PC Tools]] ([[Microsoft Anti-Virus]]), [[QEMM]] expanded memory manager, [[Lempel–Ziv–Stac|Stac]]ker [[disk compression]], and others.

During the period when Digital Research was competing in the operating system market some computers, like [[Amstrad PC1512]], were sold with floppy disks for two operating systems (only one of which could be used at a time), MS-DOS and *****/M-86 or a derivative of it. Digital Research produced [[DOS Plus]], which was compatible with MS-DOS 2.11, supported *****/M-86 programs, had additional features including multi-tasking, and could read and write disks in *****/M and MS-DOS format.

While OS/2 was under protracted development, Digital Research released the MS-DOS compatible [[DR&nbsp;DOS]] 5.0, which included features only available as third-party add-ons for MS-DOS. Unwilling to lose any portion of the market, Microsoft responded by announcing the "pending" release of MS-DOS 5.0 in May 1990. This effectively killed most DR&nbsp;DOS sales until the actual release of MS-DOS 5.0 in June 1991. Digital Research brought out DR&nbsp;DOS 6.0, which sold well until the "pre-announcement" of MS-DOS 6.0 again stifled the sales of DR&nbsp;DOS.

Microsoft had been accused of carefully orchestrating leaks about future versions of MS-DOS in an attempt to create what in the industry is called FUD ([[fear, uncertainty, and doubt]]) regarding DR&nbsp;DOS. For example, in October 1990, shortly after the release of DR&nbsp;DOS 5.0, and long before the eventual June 1991 release of MS-DOS 5.0, stories on feature enhancements in MS-DOS started to appear in ''InfoWorld'' and ''PC Week''. Brad Silverberg, Vice President of Systems Software at Microsoft and General Manager of its Windows and MS-DOS Business Unit, wrote a forceful letter to ''PC Week'' (November 5, 1990), denying that Microsoft was engaged in FUD tactics ("to serve our customers better, we decided to be more forthcoming about version 5.0") and denying that Microsoft copied features from DR&nbsp;DOS:

<blockquote>"The feature enhancements of MS-DOS version 5.0 were decided and development was begun long before we heard about DR&nbsp;DOS 5.0. There will be some similar features. With 50 million MS-DOS users, it shouldn't be surprising that DRI has heard some of the same requests from customers that we have." – (Schulman et al. 1994).<ref name="undocumenteddos">{{cite book|last=Schulman|first=Andrew|year=1994|title=Undocumented DOS: A Programmer's Guide to Reserved MS-DOS Functions and Data Structures|edition=2nd|publisher= [[Addison-Wesley]]|isbn=0-201-63287-X}}</ref></blockquote>

The pact between Microsoft and IBM to promote OS/2 began to fall apart in 1990 when [[Windows 3.0]] became a marketplace success. Much of Microsoft's further contributions to OS/2 also went into creating a third [[GUI]] replacement for DOS, [[Windows NT]].

IBM, which had already been developing the next version of OS/2, carried on development of the platform without Microsoft and sold it as the alternative to DOS and Windows.

==Legal issues==
As a response to [[Digital Research]]'s [[DR&nbsp;DOS]] 6.0, which bundled SuperStor disk compression, Microsoft opened negotiations with [[Stac Electronics]], vendor of the most popular DOS disk compression tool, Stacker. In the [[due diligence]] process, Stac engineers had shown Microsoft part of the Stacker source code. Stac was unwilling to meet Microsoft's terms for licensing Stacker and withdrew from the negotiations. Microsoft chose to license Vertisoft's DoubleDisk, using it as the core for its DoubleSpace disk compression.<ref>BYTE Magazine, [https://www.byte.com/art/9402/sec6/art1.htm How Safe is Disk Compression?], February, 1994.</ref>

MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.20 were released in 1993, both including the Microsoft DoubleSpace disk compression utility program. Stac successfully sued Microsoft for [[patent]] infringement regarding the compression algorithm used in DoubleSpace. This resulted in the 1994 release of MS-DOS 6.21, which had disk-compression removed. Shortly afterwards came version 6.22, with a new version of the disk compression system, DriveSpace, which had a different compression algorithm to avoid the infringing code.

Prior to 1995, Microsoft licensed MS-DOS (and Windows) to computer manufacturers under three types of agreement: per-processor (a fee for each system the company sold), per-system (a fee for each system of a particular model), or per-copy (a fee for each copy of MS-DOS installed). The largest manufacturers used the per-processor arrangement, which had the lowest fee. This arrangement made it expensive for the large manufacturers to migrate to any other operating system, such as DR&nbsp;DOS. In 1991, the U.S. government [[Federal Trade Commission]] began investigating Microsoft's licensing procedures, resulting in a 1994 settlement agreement limiting Microsoft to per-copy licensing. Digital Research did not gain by this settlement, and years later its successor in interest, [[Caldera, Inc.|Caldera]], sued Microsoft for damages in the [[Caldera v. Microsoft]] lawsuit. It was believed that the settlement ran in the order of $150m, but was revealed in November 2009 with the release of the Settlement Agreement to be $280m.<ref name="Groklaw_2009_NovellWP">{{cite web|title=Exhibits to Microsoft's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment in Novell WordPerfect Case|url=https://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091120165256836|publisher=Groklaw |date=2009-11-23|accessdate=2011-10-22}}</ref>

==Use of undocumented APIs==
Microsoft also used a variety of tactics in MS-DOS and several of their applications and development tools that, while operating perfectly when running on genuine MS-DOS (and PC&nbsp;DOS), would break when run on another vendor's implementation of DOS. Notable examples of this practice included:

*Microsoft's QuickPascal released in early 1989 was the first MS product that checked for MS-DOS by modifying the program's [[Program Segment Prefix]] using undocumented DOS functions, and then checked whether or not the associated value changed in a fixed position within the DOS data segment (also undocumented). This check also made it into later MS products, including Microsoft [[QuickC]] v2.5, Programmer's Workbench and Microsoft C v6.0.<ref name="undocumenteddos" />
*The [[AARD code]], a block of code in the windows launcher (WIN.COM) and a few other system files of Windows 3.1. It was XOR encrypted, [[Self-modifying code|self-modifying]], and deliberately obfuscated, using various undocumented DOS structures and functions to determine whether or not Windows really was running on MS-DOS.<ref name="undocumenteddos" />  In the beta versions, it displayed an "error" message if the test for genuine MS-DOS failed, prompting the user to abort or continue, with abort the default.  In the final release version, the code still ran, but the message and prompt were disabled by an added flag byte, rendering it (probably) ineffectual.
**Note that the Windows 3.0 beta code only gave a warning that Windows would not operate properly on a "foreign" OS. It did in fact run just fine on DR&nbsp;DOS 6.0.
*Interrupt routines called by Windows to inform MS-DOS that Windows is starting/exiting, information that MS-DOS retained in an IN_WINDOWS flag, in spite of the fact that MS-DOS and Windows were supposed to be two separate products.<ref name="undocumenteddos" />

==End of MS-DOS==
[[File:US Navy 110129-N-7676W-152 Culinary Specialist 3rd Class John Smith uses the existing DOS-based food service management system aboard the aircraft.jpg|thumb|{{As of|2011}}, MS-DOS is still used in some enterprises to run legacy applications, such as this [[United States Navy|US Navy]] food service management system.]]

With the release of [[Windows 95]] (and continuing in the [[Windows 9x]] product line through to [[Windows ME]]), an integrated version of MS-DOS was used for [[bootstrapping (computing)|bootstrapping]], troubleshooting, and backwards-compatibility with old DOS software, particularly games, and no longer released as a standalone product. In Windows 95, the DOS, called MS-DOS 7, can be booted separately, without the Windows GUI; this capability was retained through Windows 98 Second Edition. Windows Me removed the capability to boot its underlying MS-DOS 8.0 alone from a hard disk, but retained the ability to make a DOS boot floppy disk (called an "Emergency Boot Disk") and can be hacked to restore full access to the underlying DOS.

In contrast to the Windows 9x series, the [[Windows NT]]-derived operating systems developed alongside the 9x series (Windows [[Windows NT|NT]], [[Windows 2000|2000]], [[Windows XP|XP]] and newer) do not contain MS-DOS as part of the operating system, but provide a subset of DOS emulation to run DOS applications and provide DOS-like command prompt windows ("DOS boxes"). [[Windows XP]] contains a copy of the [[Windows ME]] boot disk, stripped down to bootstrap only. This is accessible only by formatting a floppy as an "MS-DOS startup disk". Files like the driver for the CD-ROM support were deleted from the Windows ME bootdisk and the startup files ([[AUTOEXEC.BAT]] and [[CONFIG.SYS]]) no longer had content. This modified disk was the base for creating the MS-DOS image for Windows XP. Some of the deleted files can be recovered with an undelete tool.<ref>{{cite web|first=Daniel B. |last=Sedory |url=https://mirror.href.com/thestarman/winxp/winxpsd.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024145636/https://mirror.href.com/thestarman/winxp/winxpsd.htm |title=Windows XP MS-DOS Startup Disk |work=The Starman's Realm |date=8 December 2004 |archivedate=24 October 2010}}</ref> With [[Windows Vista]] the files on the startup disk are dated 18 April 2005 but are otherwise unchanged, including the string "MS-DOS Version 8 © Copyright 1981–1999 Microsoft Corp" inside <code>[[COMMAND.COM]]</code>.

The only versions of MS-DOS currently recognized as stand-alone OSs and supported as such by Microsoft are MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.22, both of which remain available for download via their [[MSDN]], volume license, and OEM license partner websites, for customers with valid login credentials.  MS-DOS is still used in embedded x86 systems due to its simple architecture and minimal memory and processor requirements, though some current products have switched to the still-maintained open-source alternative [[FreeDOS#Commercial uses|FreeDOS]].

==Windows command-line interface==
All versions of [[Microsoft Windows]] have had an MS-DOS like [[command-line interface]] (CLI).  This could run many DOS and variously Win32, OS/2 1.x and [[POSIX]] command line utilities in the same command-line session, allowing piping between commands.  The user interface, and the icon up to Windows 2000, followed the native MS-DOS interface.

The 16-bit versions of Windows (up to 3.11) ran as a Graphical User Interface (GUI) on top of MS-DOS. With [[Windows 95]], 98, 98 SE and ME, the MS-DOS part was (superficially) integrated, treating both operating systems as a complete package, though the DOS component could actually stand alone.  The command line accessed the DOS command line (usually COMMAND.COM), through a Windows module (WINOLDAP.MOD){{clarify|date=August 2015}}.

A new line of Windows, (Windows NT), boot through a kernel whose sole purpose is to load Windows.  One can not run Win32 applications in the loader system in the manner that OS/2, UNIX or Consumer Windows can launch character mode sessions.

The command session permits running of various supported command line utilities from Win32, MS-DOS, OS/2 1.x and POSIX.  The emulators for MS-DOS, OS/2 and POSIX use the host's window in the same way that Win16 applications use the Win32 explorer.  Using the host's window allows one to pipe output between emulations.

The MS-DOS emulation is done through the [[NTVDM]] (NT Virtual DOS Machine).  This is a modified SoftPC (a former product similar to VirtualPC), running a modified MS-DOS 5 (NTIO.SYS and NTDOS.SYS).  The output is handled by the console DLLs, so that the program at the prompt (CMD.EXE, 4NT.EXE, TCC.EXE), can see the output. 64-bit Windows does not have either the DOS emulation, or the DOS commands (EDIT, DEBUG, EDLIN), that come with 32-bit Windows.

The DOS version returns 5.00 or 5.50, depending on which API function is used to determine it.  Utilities from MS-DOS 5.00 run in this emulation without modification.  The very early beta programs of NT show MS-DOS 30.00, but programs running in MS-DOS 30.00 would assume that OS/2 was in control.

The OS/2 emulation is handled through OS2SS.EXE and OS2.EXE, and DOSCALLS.DLL.  OS2.EXE is a version of the OS/2 shell (CMD.EXE), which passes commands down to the OS2SS.EXE, and input-output to the Windows NT shell.  Windows 2000 was the last version of NT to support OS/2.  The emulation is OS/2 1.30.

POSIX is emulated through the POSIX shell, but no emulated shell: the commands are handled directly in CMD.EXE.

The Command Prompt is often called the MS-DOS prompt.  In part, this was the official name for it in Windows 9x and early versions of Windows NT (NT 3.5 and earlier), and in part because the SoftPC emulation of DOS redirects output into it.  Actually only <code>COMMAND.COM</code> and other 16bit commands run in a NTVDM with <code>AUTOEXEC.NT</code> and <code>CONFIG.NT</code> initialisation determined by <code>[[Program information file|_default.pif]]</code>, optionally permitting the use of [[Win32 console]] applications and internal commands with a <code>NTCMDPROMPT</code> directive.

[[Win32 console]] applications use <code>CMD.EXE</code> as their command prompt shell.  This confusion does not exist under OS/2 because there are separate DOS and OS/2 prompts, and running a DOS program under OS/2 will launch a separate DOS window to run the application.

All versions of Windows for [[x86-64]] and [[Itanium]] architectures no longer include the NTVDM and can therefore no longer natively run MS-DOS or 16-bit Windows applications. There are alternatives in the form of [[Virtual machine]] emulators such as Microsoft's own [[Microsoft Virtual PC|Virtual PC]], as well as [[VMware]], [[DOSBox]], and others.

==Legacy compatibility==
From 1983 onwards, various companies worked on [[graphical user interface]]s (GUIs) capable of running on PC hardware. However, this required duplicated  effort and did not provide much consistency in interface design (even between products from the same company).

Later, in 1985, [[Microsoft Windows]] was released as Microsoft's first attempt at providing a consistent user interface (for applications). The early versions of Windows ran on top of MS-DOS. At first Windows met with little success, but this was also true for most other companies' efforts as well, for example [[Graphical Environment Manager|GEM]]. After version 3.0, Windows gained market acceptance.

[[Windows 9x]] used the DOS boot process to launch into protected mode. Basic features related to the file system, such as long file names, were only available to DOS when running as a subsystem of Windows. [[Windows NT]] runs independently of DOS but includes [[NTVDM]], a component for simulating a DOS environment for legacy applications.

==Related systems==
{{main|DOS}}
Several similar products were produced by other companies. In the case of PC&nbsp;DOS and [[DR&nbsp;DOS]], it is common but incorrect to call these "clones". Given that Microsoft manufactured PC&nbsp;DOS for IBM, PC&nbsp;DOS and MS-DOS were (to continue the genetic analogy) "identical twins" that diverged only in adulthood and eventually became quite different products. Although DR&nbsp;DOS is regarded as a clone of MS-DOS, the DR&nbsp;DOS versions appeared months and years before Microsoft's products. (For example, MS-DOS 4, released in July 1988, was followed by DR&nbsp;DOS 5.0 in May 1990. MS-DOS 5.0 came in April 1991, with DR&nbsp;DOS 6.0 being released the following June. MS-DOS 6.0 did not arrive until April 1993, with Novell&nbsp;DOS&nbsp;7, DR&nbsp;DOS' successor, following the next month.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Comerford|first1=M|title=DOS Timeline ~ Part One ~ 1980 to 1993|url=https://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/timeline.htm|publisher=PowerLoad|accessdate=18 June 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060224030922/https://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/timeline.htm|archivedate=24 February 2006}}</ref>) What made the difference in the end was Microsoft's control of the Windows platform and their programming practices which intentionally made Windows appear as if it ran poorly on competing versions of DOS.<ref name="undocumenteddos" /> DRI had to release interim releases to circumvent Windows limitations inserted artificially,<ref name="undocumenteddos" /> designed specifically to provide Microsoft with an unfair competitive advantage.<ref name="undocumenteddos" />
*[[PC&nbsp;DOS]],
*[[DR&nbsp;DOS]] / [[Novell&nbsp;DOS]] / [[OpenDOS]],
*[[GNU/DOS]] / [[FreeDOS]]
*[[PTS-DOS]],
*[[ROM-DOS]].

These products are collectively referred to as DOS. However, MS-DOS can be a generic reference to DOS on IBM-PC compatible computers.
<!--
==Physical RAM limit==
The maximum physical RAM that MS-DOS 6.22 supports is 64 MB.

==Physical hard disk drive limit==
The maximum capacity of hard disk drive that MS-DOS 6.22 supports is 8.4 GB or 7.84 GiB (8,422,686,720 bytes or 1,024 cylinders x 255 heads per cylinder x 63 sectors per head x 512 bytes per sector).
-->

==See also==
*[[4DOS]] – designed to replace the default command interpreter [[COMMAND.COM]]
*[[Bad command or file name]]
*[[Comparison of DOS operating systems]]
*[[DOSBox]]
*[[History of Microsoft Windows]]
*[[List of DOS commands]]
*[[List of Microsoft Windows versions]]
*[[List of MS-DOS games]]
*[[Microsoft Windows]]
*[[MS-DOS API]]
*[[Tao exdos|Tao ExDOS]] – Commercial solution for DOS software on new [[Windows]] systems.
*[[Timeline of DOS operating systems]]
*[[Win32 console]] – a text-rendering system akin to MS-DOS

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|MS-DOS}}
*[https://www.computerhistory.org/_static/atchm/microsoft-ms-dos-early-source-code/ MS-DOS Source] - MS-DOS 1.1 and MS-DOS 2.0 Source Code at Computer History Museum
* [https://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/windows_dos_overview.mspx MS-DOS overview] - on Microsoft website
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121024151449/https://support.microsoft.com/kb/79747 Current License Agreement Policies for MS-DOS and Windows]
*[https://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Articles.aspx Tim Paterson on DOS] – Paterson wrote the QDOS OS
*[https://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/DOS/DOS-Head.html Richard Bonner's DOS website]
*[https://purl.oclc.org/net/Batfiles/ Batfiles] – the DOS batch file programming handbook and tutorial
*[https://browser.arachne.cz/ Arachne graphical browser for DOS]
*[https://www.dosemu.org/ Linux/dosemu]
*[https://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/ralf/pub/WWW/files.html ''Ralf Brown's Interrupt List'']
*[https://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1 DOSBox, a multiplatform DOS emulator]
*[https://garbo.uwasa.fi/ Garbo – An MS-DOS program distribution library] at the [[University of Vaasa]], [[Finland]]
*[https://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/msdos/01_intro.mspx?mfr=true MS-DOS 6 Technical Reference at Microsoft TechNet]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmEvPZUdAVI Promotional video for MS-DOS 5]
*[https://www.msfn.org/board/topic/159631-testing-ms-dos-limitations/ Testing MS-DOS limitations.]

{{Microsoft operating systems}}
{{Operating System}}

[[Category:1981 software]]
[[Category:Microcomputer software]]
[[Category:Disk operating systems]]
[[Category:DOS issues]]
[[Category:Floppy disk-based operating systems]]
[[Category:Discontinued Microsoft operating systems]]
[[Category:Proprietary operating systems]]
[[Category:Software written primarily in assembly language]]
[[Category:Discontinued products]]